Black Out

An Inspector Troy Novel

By: John Lawton

Narrated by: Lewis Hancock

London, 1944. While the Luftwaffe makes its final assault on the already battered British capital, Londoners rush through the streets, seeking underground shelter in the midst of the city's blackout. When the panic subsides, other things begin to surface along with London's war-worn citizens. A severed arm is discovered by a group of children playing at an East End bomb site, and when Scotland Yard's Detective Sergeant Frederick Troy arrives at the scene, it becomes apparent that the dismembered body is not the work of a V-1 rocket.

After Troy manages to link the severed arm to the disappearance of a refugee scientist from Nazi Germany, America's newest intelligence agency, the OSS, decides to get involved. The son of a titled Russian émigré, Troy is forced to leave the London he knows and enter a corrupt world of bloody consequences, stateless refugees, and mysterious women as he unearths a chain of secrets leading straight to the Allied high command.

©2017 John Lawton (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Great narrator, story needed trimming

The book was interesting for the first 2/3 but then it became tedious. I enjoyed the characters and the mystery, but the last 1/3 of the book is dedicated to Troy's obsession and it was intolerable. I would have liked more time spent in the last years of the war.

The narrator was a little shaky at first, which is why there's only 4 stars, but his character voices are excellent. So easy to tell who was talking and very entertaining.

Disappointed

The writer is skilled, but I found the story lacking. I didn't finish the last 1 hour. There was no real police work. The book was just about the main character's sex life.

Great start to series

My understanding is that most of the series is set during the Cold War, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to check it out. The main character is in the police during WWII, and in pursuing a particular criminal, he crosses paths with people working in various intelligence agencies. This experience, along with his personal background, sort of sets the stage for future books, in which I believe he ends up working in intelligence. Within the world of the book, I found it quite plausible.

The sexual encounters with women are not subtle—something to keep in mind, depending on who else is around when you are listening. (These just happen now and then in the book.) While I don’t believe everyone would have had these sorts of experiences, they are believable. I would imagine that during wartime some people would be less reserved.

Avid Reader

Too much gratuitous sex. This just gets worse as the series goes on. The ending is a non sequitur. Otherwise has the potential to be a good novel

Intense

I liked the narrator and it moved pretty well. I just thought some things could have been revealed earlier.